1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for orienting products for applying indicia, such as printed indicia directly on the product or on a label, and more particularly to orienting flat paper products such as newspapers and magazines, as the products are transported, for applying printed indicia to the products directly or on a label.
2. Description of the Related Art
In product handling industries, machines are often employed to transport relatively flat product such as newspapers or other print media for various purposes. At some point in the transport process, it is desirable in some applications to apply printed indicia to the product, either directly or on a label which becomes affixed to the product. Such indicia may be address information for a subscriber, which typically contains the name and address of the subscriber, and/or a bar or other code encoding the address which can be read by scanners at the same or different facility.
presort zip code and sub-zip code order. However, because products when conveyed are usually transported in a tightly spaced relation, and may be totally or at least partially overlapping, it is difficult to apply the indicia in the same position and orientation on each product consistently. Attempts to apply the indicia often require slowing down the product stream and/or moving or repositioning the product in the stream.
When the product is in the form of newspapers or magazines, the printed indicia are usually in a particular location on the front cover page of the media, and have a certain orientation. The location may be dictated by postal regulation to get presort mail rates as mentioned above, and/or by a desire to locate the label to not obscure the space where other material appears on the front page, which space is a valuable commodity, especially for newspapers.